25-06-2012, 09:27 AM
Ah, decisions...which liar do we believe?
Quote:http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index...ull/120626Campbell says Blair blocked Iraq war advice
Sunday 24 June 2012
by Rory MacKinnon
Peace activists demanded that Tony Blair be put back on the witness stand and then in the dock today after his former spin doctor revealed explosive new details about the run-up to the illegal Iraq war.
The disgraced ex-PM barred his the attorney general from giving his ministers "nuanced" advice against invading, according to the newly published fourth book of Alastair Campbell's diaries.
Mr Campbell wrote that then-attorney general Lord Goldsmith had wanted to "put the reality" of the situation to the Cabinet before Blair blocked his report.
Lord Goldsmith had written a legal opinion to Blair on March 7 2003 stating that there was a "reasonable case" for the war but "also a case to be made the other way."
Yet less than a week later Lord Goldsmith chopped his opinion to just a single page after Blair's staff told him that the PM would "simply say the advice said there was a reasonable case."
Some estimates put the Iraq war's death toll at 1.5 million, including the knock-on effects of destroyed infrastructure and sectarian violence.
And anti-war activists said the fresh revelations meant that Mr Blair, Mr Campbell and Lord Goldsmith must be called back to the Chilcot inquiry into the war, which is now preparing its final report.
Stop the War Coalition's Lindsey German said it was a last chance to correct the official history.
"I think that this is yet another piece of evidence that Blair set out to mislead not just the British public but his own Cabinet," she said.
The fact that it came from "partner-in-crime" Alastair Campbell made it even more damning, she added.
But the world would "never, never, never" forgive Blair, no matter what the inquiry decided: "There will always be people around the world who see him as a war criminal."
Mr Campbell downplayed the story today, insisting that the attorney general was not at the time offering a "formal opinion."
Mr Campbell said he was "sure" that Cabinet ministers had already been familiar with the argument that an invasion would be illegal under international law, as it "had been well travelled in the press."
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.